Transmission management system, transmission system, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

A transmission management system includes a destination name data managing unit which manages a plurality of destination name data items which indicate a plurality of names of a destination in communications between transmission terminals, a destination name data reading unit which reads a destination name data item from the plurality of destination name data items managed by the destination name data managing unit, and a destination name data transmitting unit which transmits the destination name data item read by the destination name data reading unit to a transmission terminal capable of communicating with the destination.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of and claims the benefit ofpriority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to U.S. application Ser. No. 14/417,868,filed Jan. 28, 2015 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,661,057 issued May 23, 2017),which is a National Stage of PCT/JP13/70953, filed Jul. 26, 2013, whichclaims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese PatentApplication No. 2012-171192, filed in Japan on Aug. 1, 2012, the entirecontents of all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a transmission management system whichtransmits destination name data in communications between transmissionterminals to a transmission terminal in the transmission managementsystem.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, with the demand for reducing time and expenses for businesstrips, a videoconference system is becoming increasingly popular. Thevideoconference system is an example of a transmission system whichcommunicates over a communication network, and conducts videoconferencesvia the communication network such as the Internet. In thevideoconference system, the videoconference may be implemented bytransmitting and receiving content data, such as image data and voicedata, between the terminals (each of which is an example of atransmission terminal).

In the related art, a method of establishing a session between terminalsfor the communication such as the videoconference is known. In thismethod, a destination name is selected from among various names ofdestinations (candidates for destinations) contained in a destinationlist and establishment of the session is requested. See JapaneseLaid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-050063.

In the known method, a transmission management system which controls thestarting of the communication generates a destination list in which thenames of the destinations (the candidates) are contained and transmitsthe destination list to a transmission terminal, and prompting a user onthe transmission terminal to select one of the destination names in thedesignation list.

Generally, geographical names such as “Japan”, office names such as“Tokyo office”, or terminal names such as “AB terminal” have been usedas the names of the destinations managed by the transmission managementsystem.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

However, the easy-to-specify names of the destinations may varydepending on the communications. For example, in the videoconference inthe same organization, if team names in the organization are used as thedestination names, such names may become easy-to-specify ones. Or, inthe videoconference between different organizations, if company namesare used as the destination names, the company names may becomeeasy-to-specify ones.

In the transmission system according to the related art, the commonnames which are provided for users have been used as the names of thedestinations, and it is impossible to use the easy-to-specify names ofthe destinations in the communications.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a transmission system anda transmission management system which substantially eliminate one ormore problems caused by the limitations and disadvantages of the relatedart.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a transmissionmanagement system including: a destination name data managing unitconfigured to manage a plurality of destination name data items whichindicate a plurality of names of a destination in communications betweentransmission terminals; a destination name data reading unit configuredto read at least one destination name data item from among the pluralityof destination name data items managed by the destination name datamanaging unit; and a destination name data transmitting unit configuredto transmit the at least one destination name data item read by thedestination name data reading unit, to a transmission terminal which iscapable of communicating with the destination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features and advantages of embodiments will be apparentfrom the following detailed description when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a transmission system according toan embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing sessions of transmitting andreceiving of image data, voice data and management data in thetransmission system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a transmission terminal according to theembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of thetransmission terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of atransmission management system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of thetransmission terminal, the relay device, and the transmission managementsystem which constitute the transmission system according to theembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a relay device management table.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing a terminal authenticationmanagement table.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing a session management table.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing a destination list managementtable.

FIG. 11A is a conceptual diagram showing a reservation management table.

FIG. 11B is a conceptual diagram showing a reservation terminalmanagement table.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram showing a terminal management table.

FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram for explaining a preparatory process forstarting communication between transmission terminals.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining a process for generating meetinginformation and destination information.

FIG. 15A is a conceptual diagram showing an example of meetinginformation.

FIG. 15B is a conceptual diagram showing an example of destinationinformation.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a meeting list anda destination list.

FIG. 17 is a sequence diagram for explaining a process for receiving areservation.

FIG. 18 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a reservationacceptance screen.

FIG. 19 is a sequence diagram for explaining a process for readingmeeting detailed information.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining a process for generating meetingdetailed information.

FIG. 21 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of meeting detailedinformation.

FIG. 22 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a meeting detailedlist.

FIG. 23 is a sequence diagram for explaining a process for starting thecommunication.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of a destination list displayedon a transmission terminal according to another embodiment.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Overall Configuration of Embodiment

In the following, a description will be given of preferred embodimentswith reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the wholeconfiguration of a transmission system according to an embodiment willbe described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a schematicdiagram showing the transmission system according to the embodiment.FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing sessions of transmitting andreceiving of image data, voice data and management data in thetransmission system according to the embodiment.

There are various types of transmission systems. One example may be adata provision system which transmits content data from a transmissionterminal to another transmission terminal via a transmission managementsystem in one way. Another example may be a communication system whichmutually communicates information or emotional expressions among two ormore transmission terminals via the transmission management system. Thiscommunication system is used for mutually exchanging information oremotional expressions among the two or more communication terminals(i.e., the transmission terminals) via a communication management system(i.e., the transmission management system). Examples of thecommunication system include a videoconference system, a visualtelephone system, an audio conference system, a voice-call system, and apersonal computer screen sharing system.

The following embodiments describe the transmission system, thetransmission management system, and the transmission terminal byconceptualizing the videoconference system as an example of thecommunication system, the videoconference management system as anexample of the communication management system, and the videoconferenceterminal as an example of the communication terminal, respectively.Namely, the transmission terminal and the transmission management systemaccording to this embodiment may be applied not only to thevideoconference system, but may also be applied to the communicationsystem or the transmission system. In the following embodiments, thevideoconference may also be called the meeting.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transmission system 1 includes two or moretransmission terminals (10 aa, 10 ab, . . . ), two or more displays (120aa, 120 ab, . . . ) for the respective transmission terminals (10 aa, 10ab, . . . ), two or more relay devices (30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d), atransmission management system 50, a program provision system 90, and amaintenance system 100.

Note that, in the following, any one of the transmission terminals (10aa, 10 ab, . . . ) may be called a transmission terminal 10, any one ofthe displays (120 aa, 120 ab, . . . ) may be called a display 120, andany one of the relay devices (30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d) may be called arelay device 30.

The transmission terminal 10 is configured to transmit and receive imagedata and voice data as examples of content data. In this embodiment,motion pictures (i.e., video data) are illustrated as an example of theimage data. However, the image data may also be still pictures, or theimage data may include both motion pictures and still pictures.

Note that, in the following, the transmission terminal may be simplycalled the “terminal” and the transmission management system may besimply called as the “management system”.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the transmission system 1, a management datasession “sei” for transmitting and receiving various kinds of managementdata is established between the terminals 10 via the management system50, and sessions for transmitting and receiving image data and voicedata are established between the terminals 10 via the relay device 30.In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the sessions for transmitting andreceiving the image data and the voice data are collectively illustratedas a content data session “sed”.

The terminal 10 shown in FIG. 1 transmits and receives content dataincluding image data and voice data in order to communicate with anotherterminal 10. That is, the communications in this embodiment include notonly the transmission and reception of voice data but also thetransmission and reception of image data. However, the terminal 10 maybe configured to transmit and receive the voice data solely withouttransmitting or receiving the image data. The relay device 30 isconfigured to relay the content data between the terminals 10. Themanagement system 50 is configured to manage the terminals 10 and therelay device 30 in an integrated manner.

In the transmission system 1 shown in FIG. 1, routers (70 a, 70 b, 70 c,70 d, 70 ab, 70 cd) are configured to select the optimal paths for thecontent data. Note that, in the following, any one of the routers (70 a,70 b, 70 c, 70 d, 70 ab, 70 cd) may be simply called a router 70.

The program provision system 90 includes a hard disk (HD) configured tostore programs for terminals, with which the terminal 10 may implementvarious functions or various processes. Therefore, the program provisionsystem 90 may transmit the programs for terminals to the terminal 10.The HD of the program provision system 90 further stores programs forthe relay device, with which the relay device 30 may Implement variousfunctions or various processes. Therefore, the program provision system90 may transmit the programs for the relay device to the relay device30. In addition, the HD of the program provision system 90 furtherstores programs for the management system, with which the managementsystem 50 may implement various functions or various processes.Therefore, the program provision system 90 may transmit the programs forthe management system to the management system 50.

The maintenance system 100 is a computer configured to maintain ormanage at least one of the terminals 10, the relay device 30, themanagement system 50, and the program provision system 90. For example,if the maintenance system 100 is installed at a domestic location whilethe terminal 10, the relay device 30, the management system 50 and theprogram provision system 90 are installed at overseas locations, themaintenance system 100 remotely maintains or manages at least one of theterminal 10, the relay device 30, the management system 50, and theprogram provision system 90 via a communication network 2. In addition,the maintenance system 100 performs maintenance, such as the managementof a model number, a serial number, a sale place, a maintenanceinspection, a failure history, etc. on at least one of the terminal 10,the relay device 30, the management system 50, and the program provisionsystems 90 without using the communication network 2.

In the transmission system 1 shown in FIG. 1, the terminals (10 aa, 10ab, . . . ), the relay device 30 a, and the router 70 a are connectedvia a LAN 2 a so that they may communicate with one another. Theterminals (10 ba, 10 bb, . . . ), the relay device 30 b, and the router70 b are connected via a LAN 2 b so that they may communicate with oneanother. The LAN 2 a and the LAN 2 b are set up in a predeterminedcompany A. In the company A, the LAN 2 a and the LAN 2 b are connectedvia a dedicated communication line 2 ab including the router 70 ab sothat they may communicate with one another. For example, the company Amay be located in Japan, the LAN 2 a may be set up in the Tokyo office,and the LAN 2 b is set up in the Osaka office.

On the other hand, the terminals (10 ca, 10 cb, . . . ), the relaydevice 30 c, and the router 70 c are connected via a LAN 2 c so thatthey may communicate with one another. The terminals (10 da, 10 db, . .. ), the relay device 30 d, and the router 70 d are connected via a LAN2 d so that they may communicate with one another. The LAN 2 c and theLAN 2 d are set up in a predetermined company B. In the company B, theLAN 2 c and the LAN 2 d are connected via a dedicated communication line2 cd including the router 70 cd so that they may communicate with oneanother. For example, the company B may be located in the United Statesof America, the LAN 2 c may be set up in the New York office, and theLAN 2 d may be set up in the Washington, D.C. office. The company A andthe company B are connected from the respective routers 70 ab and 70 cdvia the Internet 2 i so that the company A and the company B maycommunicate with each other via the Internet 2 i.

Furthermore, the management system 50 and the program provision system90 are connected to the terminal 10 and the relay device 30 via theInternet 2 i so that they may communicate with one another. Themanagement system 50 and the program provision system 90 may beinstalled in the company A or the company B, or may be installed in aregion other than the companies A and B.

Note that in this embodiment, the communication network 2 is made up ofthe LAN 2 a, the LAN 2 b, the dedicated communication line 2 ab, theInternet 2 i, the dedicated communication line 2 cd, the LAN 2 c, andthe LAN 2 d. In the communication network 2, the communications aretypically carried out via the wires, but may be partially carried outusing the wireless communication protocols, such as Wi-Fi (WirelessFidelity) or Bluetooth®.

In FIG. 1, the set of four numerals attached beneath or over each of theterminal 10, the relay device 30, the management system 50, the router70, the program provision system 90, and the maintenance system 100simply designates the IP address of the typical IPv4. For example, theIP address of the terminal 10 aa is “1.2.1.3”, as shown in FIG. 1. TheIP address may be the IPv6; however, in this embodiment, the IPv4 isused for the sake of simplifying the illustration.

The terminal 10 may be used not only for communication between two ormore offices or communication between different rooms in the sameoffice, but may also be used for communication in the same room,communication between the outdoor locations, or communication betweenthe indoor and outdoor locations. When the terminal 10 is used outdoors,the wireless communication may be conducted via a mobile communicationnetwork.

Hardware Configuration of Embodiment

Next, the hardware configuration of the embodiment will be described.

First, the hardware configuration of the terminal 10 will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of theterminal 10 according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagramshowing the hardware configuration of the terminal 10 according to theembodiment.

Note that, in the following, an X-axis direction represents alongitudinal direction of the terminal 10, a Y-axis direction representsa direction perpendicular to the X-axis direction in a horizontal plane,and a Z-axis direction represents a direction perpendicular to theX-axis direction and the Y-axis direction (i.e., vertical direction).

As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal 10 includes a housing 1100, an arm1200, and a camera housing 1300. A front wall face 1110 of the housing1100 includes a not-illustrated air intake face which is formed with twoor more air intake holes, and a rear wall face 1120 of the housing 1100includes an exhaust face 1121 which is formed with two or more exhaustholes. Accordingly, by driving a cooling fan arranged in the housing1100, the terminal 10 can take in external air behind the terminal 10via the air intake face and exhaust the air inside the terminal 10 viathe exhaust face 1121. A right-side wall face 1130 of the housing 1100is formed with a voice-collecting hole 1131, via which a built-inmicrophone 114 (FIG. 4) can pick up audio sound, such as voice, sound,or noise.

The right-side wall face 1130 of the housing 1100 includes an operationpanel 1150. This operation panel 1150 includes operation buttons (108a-108 e), a power switch 109, an alarm lamp 119, and a voice output face1151. The voice output face 1151 is formed with voice output holes foroutputting voice from a built-in speaker 115 (FIG. 4). Further, aleft-side wall face 1140 of the housing 1100 includes an accommodationunit 1160 which is a recessed seating unit for accommodating the arm1200 and the camera housing 1300. The right-side wall face 1130 of thehousing 1100 further includes connection ports (1132 a-1132 c) forelectrically connecting a cable to an external device connectioninterface (IF) 118. On the other hand, the left-side wall face 1140 ofthe housing 1100 includes a not-illustrated connection port forelectrically connecting a cable 120 c of the display 120 to the externaldevice connection interface (IF) 118.

Note that, in the following, any one of the operation buttons (108 a-108e) may be called an operation button 108, and any one of the connectionports (1132 a-1132 c) may be called a connection port 1132.

Next, the arm 1200 is attached to the housing 1100 via a torque hinge1210 such that the arm 1200 is movable in upward and downward directionswithin a range of tilt angle θ1 of 135 degrees with respect to thehousing 1100. The arm 1200 shown in FIG. 3 is in a state where the tiltangle θ1 is 90 degrees.

The camera housing 1300 includes a built-in camera 1021, and the camera1021 is configured to take images of a user, documents, a room, etc. Thecamera housing 1300 further includes a torque hinge 1310. The camerahousing 1300 is attached to the arm 1200 via the torque hinge 1310. Thecamera housing 1300 is rotationally attached to the arm 1200 in upwardand downward directions via the torque hinge 1310 such that the camerahousing 1300 is movable in the up, down, right and left directions in arange of pan angle θ2 of ±180 degrees and in a range of tilt angle θ3 of±45 degrees when the pan angle and the tilt angle in the state shown inFIG. 3 are 0 degrees.

As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal 10 includes a central processing unit(CPU) 101 configured to control overall operations of the terminal 10, aread-only memory (ROM) 102 storing programs for the terminal, a randomaccess memory (RAM) 103 used as a work area of the CPU 101, a flashmemory 104 configured to store various data, such as image data andvoice data, a solid state drive (SSD) 105 configured to controlretrieval and writing (storing) of the various data in the flash memory104 and the like based on the control of the CPU 101, a medium drive 107configured to control retrieval and writing (storing) of data into astorage medium 106 such as a flash memory, the operation button 108operated by a user for selecting an address of the terminal 10, thepower switch 109 for switching ON/OFF of the power of the terminal 10,and a network interface (IF) 111 for transmitting data utilizing thecommunication network 2.

The terminal 10 further includes a built-in camera 112 configured toimage a subject based on the control of the CPU 101, an image sensorinterface (IF) 113 configured to control driving of the camera 112, thebuilt-in microphone 114 configured to pick up audio sound, the built-inspeaker 115, a voice input/output interface (I/O IF) 116, a displayinterface (IF) 117 configured to transmit image data to the externaldisplay 120 based on the control of the CPU 101, the external deviceconnection interface (IF) 118 configured to connect various externaldevices to the connection ports (1132 a to 1132 c) shown in FIG. 3, thealarm lamp 119 configured to inform the user of various functionalproblems of the terminal 10, and a bus line 110 such as an address busor a data bus for electrically connecting the elements and devices withone another as shown in FIG. 4 via the bus line 110.

The display 120 is a display unit formed of liquid crystal or an organicEL material configured to display images of the subject or icons foroperating the terminal 10. Further, the display 120 is connected to thedisplay IF 117 via the cable 120 c (see FIG. 3). The cable 120 c may bean analog RGB (VGA) cable, a component video cable, a high-definitionmultimedia interface (HDMI) cable or a digital video interface (DVI)cable.

The camera 112 includes lenses and a solid-state image sensor configuredto convert light into electric charges to produce digital images(videos) of the subject. Examples of the solid-state image sensorinclude a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or a chargecoupled device (CCD).

The external device connection IF 118 may be connected via a universalserial bus (USB) cable with external devices, such as the externalcamera, the external microphone, and the external speaker. The USB cableis inserted in the connection port 1132 of the housing 1100 shown inFIG. 3. When the external camera is connected to the external deviceconnection IF 118 via the USB cable, the external camera is driven inpriority to the built-in camera 112 according to control of the CPU 101.Similarly, when the external microphone or the external speaker isconnected, the external microphone or the external speaker is driven inpriority to the built-in microphone 114 or the built-in speaker 115according to control of the CPU 101.

Note that the storage medium 106 is removable from the terminal 10. Inaddition, if the storage medium 106 is a non-volatile memory configuredto retrieve or write data based on the control of the CPU 101, thestorage medium 106 is not limited to the flash memory 104, and may be anelectrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM).

The above-described programs for the terminal may be recorded in aninstallable format or in an executable format on a computer-readablerecording medium such as the storage medium 106 to distribute themedium. The above-described programs for the terminal may be recorded inthe ROM 102 rather than the flash memory 104. The external appearanceand the hardware configuration of the terminal shown in FIGS. 3 and 4are to show typical examples and not limited to these examples. Forexample, the appearance and hardware of the terminal may be a desktop ornotebook personal computer. In this case, the built-in camera and thebuilt-in microphone are not necessarily needed, and the external cameraand the external microphone may be used.

Next, the hardware configuration of the management system 50, the relaydevice 30, the program provision system 90, and the maintenance system100 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagramshowing the hardware configuration of the management system 50 accordingto the embodiment. Because the relay device 30, the management system50, the program provision system 90, and the maintenance system 100 havethe external appearance which is the same as the external appearance ofa server computer, a description of the external appearance thereof willbe omitted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the management system 50 includes a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 201 configured to control overall operations ofthe management system 50, a read-only memory (ROM) 202 storing programsfor the transmission management, a random access memory (RAM) 203utilized as a work area of the CPU 201, a hard disk (HD) 204 configuredto store various data, a hard disk drive (HDD) 205 configured to controlretrieval and writing (storing) of the various data in the HD 204 basedon the control of the CPU 201, a medium drive 207 configured to controlretrieval and writing (storing) of data into a storage medium 206 suchas a flash memory, a display 208 configured to display variousinformation such as a cursor, menus, windows, characters and images, anetwork interface (IF) 209 for transmitting data utilizing thelater-described communication network 2, a keyboard 211 including pluralkeys for inputting the characters, numerals, and various instructions, amouse 212 for selecting or executing various instructions, selectingitems to be processed, and moving the cursor, a CD-ROM drive 214configured to control retrieval or writing of data in a compact diskread-only memory (CD-ROM) 213 as an example of a removable recordingmedium, a clock 215 configured to output date/time data, and a bus line210 such as an address bus or a data bus for electrically connecting theelements and devices with one another shown in FIG. 5 via the bus line210.

Note that the above-described programs for the management system may bein an installable format or in an executable format on acomputer-readable recording medium such as the storage medium 206 or theCD-ROM 213 to distribute the medium. The above-described programs forthe management system may be recorded in the ROM 202 rather than the HD204.

Further, the relay device 30 has a hardware configuration similar tothat of the management system 50, and a description of the hardwareconfiguration of the relay device 30 will be omitted. Note that the HD204 may store programs for controlling the relay device 30. In thiscase, the programs for the relay device may also be recorded in aninstallable format or in an executable format on a computer-readablerecording medium such as the storage medium 206 or the CD-ROM 213 todistribute the medium. The above-described programs for the relay devicemay be recorded in the ROM 202 rather than the HD 204.

Further, the program providing system 90 and the maintenance system 100have a hardware configuration similar to that of the management system50, and a description of the hardware configuration of the programproviding system 90 and the maintenance system 100 will be omitted. Notethat the HD 204 may store programs for controlling the program providingsystem 90 or the maintenance system 100. In this case, the programs forthe program providing system 90 or the maintenance system 100 may alsobe recorded in an installable format or in an executable format on acomputer-readable recording medium such as the storage medium 206 or theCD-ROM 213 to distribute the medium. The above-described programs forthe program providing system 90 or the maintenance system 100 may berecorded in the ROM 202 rather than the HD 204.

Note that other examples of the removable recording medium include acompact disc recordable (CD-R), a digital versatile disk (DVD), and aBlu-ray Disc (BD).

Functional Configuration of Embodiment

Next, the functional configuration of the embodiment will be explainedwith reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing thefunctional configuration of the terminal, the relay device, and themanagement system which constitutes the transmission system according tothe embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the terminal 10, the relay device30, and the management system 50 are connected via the communicationnetwork 2 so that these devices can communicate with one another. Notethat the program provision system 90 and the maintenance system 100 asshown in FIG. 1 are not directly associated with videoconferencingcommunications, and therefore the illustrations thereof are omitted fromFIG. 6.

As shown in FIG. 6, the terminal 10 includes a transmitting/receivingunit 11, an operation input receiving unit 12, a login request unit 13,an imaging unit 14, a voice input unit 15 a, a voice output unit 15 b, adisplay control unit 16, and a store/read processing unit 19. Theseunits of the terminal 10 represent functions and units implemented byany of the elements and devices shown in FIG. 4, which are activated byinstructions from the CPU 101 based on the programs read into the RAM103 from the flash memory 104 or the ROM 102. Further, the terminal 10further includes a storage unit 1000 which is formed of the RAM 103shown in FIG. 4 and the flash memory 104 or the ROM 102 shown in FIG. 4.

Functional Units of Terminal

Next, the functional configuration of the terminal 10 will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 4 and 6. The transmitting/receiving unit 11 isconfigured to transmit various data (information) to and receive suchdata from other terminals, relay devices, and systems via thecommunication network 2. The function of the transmitting/receiving unit11 may be implemented by the network interface (IF) 111 shown in FIG. 4and by instructions received from the CPU 101 shown in FIG. 4. Thetransmitting/receiving unit 11 is an example of a receiving unitconfigured to receive destination name data transmitted by themanagement system 50.

The operation input receiving unit 12 is configured to receive variousinputs from the user, and such a function of the operation inputreceiving unit 12 is implemented by the operation button 108 and thepower switch 109 shown in FIG. 4 and the instructions from the CPU 101shown FIG. 4. For example, when the user switches ON the power switch109 shown in FIG. 4, the operation input receiving unit 12 shown in FIG.6 receives a power-ON signal to turn ON the power supply of the terminal10.

The login request unit 13 is configured to automatically transmit alogin request message indicating that the user desires to login, and acurrent IP address of the terminal 10 as an IP address of a requestsource terminal from the transmitting/receiving unit 11 to themanagement system 50 via the communication network 2 when the power-ONsignal is received by the operation input receiving unit 12 as atrigger. Such a function of the login request unit 13 is implemented byinstructions received from the CPU 101 shown in FIG. 4. On the otherhand, when the user switches OFF the power switch 109, thetransmitting/receiving unit 11 transmits power-OFF state information tothe management system 50, and subsequently the operation input receivingunit 12 turns OFF the power supply completely. Accordingly, themanagement system 50 may detect that the power of the terminal 10 ischanged from the power-ON state to the power-OFF state.

The imaging unit 14 is configured to take an image of a subject andoutput image data of the subject, and such a function of the imagingunit 14 is implemented by instructions received from the CPU 101 shownin FIG. 4 and by the camera 112 and the image sensor IF 113 shown inFIG. 4.

The voice input unit 15 a is configured to input voice data of the voicesignal obtained by the microphone 114 that converts voice of the userinto the voice signal, and such a function of the voice input unit 15 ais implemented by instructions received from the CPU 101 shown in FIG. 4and by the voice input/output IF 116 shown in FIG. 4.

The voice output unit 15 b is configured to output a voice signalcorresponding to the voice data to the speaker 115 and cause the speaker115 to produce sound or voice according to the voice signal, and such afunction of the voice output unit 15 b is implemented by instructionsreceived from the CPU 101 shown in FIG. 4 and by the voice input/outputIF 116 shown in FIG. 4.

The display control unit 16 is configured to control transmission of theimage data to the display 120, and such a function of the displaycontrol unit 16 is implemented by instructions received from the CPU 101shown in FIG. 4 and by the display IF 117 shown in FIG. 4. The displaycontrol unit 16 is an example of an outputting unit configured to outputthe destination name data to the display 120 by transmitting thedestination name data received by the transmitting/receiving unit 11 tothe display 120.

The store/read processing unit 19 is configured to store various data inthe storage unit 1000 or read various data from the storage unit 1000,and such a function of the store/read processing unit 19 is implementedby the SSD 105 shown in FIG. 4 and by instructions received from the CPU101 shown in FIG. 4. The storage unit 1000 stores a terminal ID(identification), a password, etc. for identifying the terminal 10. Thestore/read processing unit 19 is configured to store and overwrite imagedata and voice data in the storage unit 1000 every time the terminal 10receives the image data and the voice data from the destination terminalduring the communication between the terminal 10 and the destinationterminal. Note that the display 120 displays previous image data beforebeing overwritten with new image data and the speaker 115 outputsprevious voice data before being overwritten with new voice data.

Note that the terminal ID and the later-described relay device IDindividually indicate identification information formed of language,characters and various kinds of symbols that uniquely identify theterminal 10 and the relay device 30, respectively. The terminal ID andthe relay device ID may be the identification information formed of acombination of two or more of the languages, characters, and variouskinds of symbols.

Functional Configuration of Relay Device

As shown in FIG. 6, the relay device 30 includes atransmitting/receiving unit 31, a relay unit 32, and a store/readprocessing unit 39. These units of the relay device 30 representfunctions and units implemented by any of the elements and devices shownin FIG. 5, which are activated by instructions from the CPU 201 based onthe programs for the relay device read into the RAM 103 from the HD 204shown in FIG. 5. The relay device 30 further includes a storage unit3000 which is formed of the RAM 203 shown in FIG. 5 or the HD 204 shownin FIG. 5.

Next, the functional configuration of the relay device 30 will bedescribed. Note that, in the following, the functions of the relaydevice 30 are explained in association with the main elements anddevices for implementing the units of the relay device 30 shown in FIG.5.

The transmitting/receiving unit 31 of the relay device 30 shown in FIG.6 is configured to transmit various data (information) to and receivesuch data from other terminals, relay devices and systems via thecommunication network 2, and such a function of thetransmitting/receiving unit 31 may be implemented by instructions fromthe CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5 and by the network interface (IF) 209 shownin FIG. 5.

The relay unit 32 is configured to relay the content data exchangedbetween the terminals 10 in the content data session sed through thetransmitting/receiving unit 31, and such a function of the relay unit 32may be implemented by instructions received from the CPU 201 shown inFIG. 5.

The store/read processing unit 39 is configured to store various data inthe storage unit 3000 and read the stored data from the storage unit3000, and such a function of the store/read processing unit 39 may beimplemented by instructions received from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5and by the HDD 205 and the clock 215 shown in FIG. 5.

Functional Configuration of Management System

As shown in FIG. 6, the management system 50 includes atransmitting/receiving unit 51, a terminal authentication unit 52, astate managing unit 53, a terminal reading unit 54, a relay deviceselecting unit 56, a session managing unit 57, a store/read processingunit 59, a reservation reading unit 61, and a meeting/destinationinformation generating unit 64. These units of the management system 50represent functions and units implemented by any of the elements anddevices shown in FIG. 5, which are activated by instructions receivedfrom the CPU 201 based on the programs for the management system readinto the RAM 203 from the HD 204. The management system 50 furtherincludes a storage unit 5000 which is formed of the HD 204 shown in FIG.5.

Relay Device Management Table

The storage unit 5000 includes a relay device management database (MGMTDB) 5001 which is formed on a relay device management table as shown inFIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing the relay devicemanagement table. In this relay device management table, the relaydevice IDs of the relay devices 30 are respectively associated with theIP addresses of the relay devices 30. For example, in the relay devicemanagement table shown in FIG. 7, the relay device ID “111a” of therelay device 30 a is associated with the IP address “1.2.1.2”.

Terminal Authentication Management Table

The storage unit 5000 includes a terminal authentication managementdatabase (MGMT DB) 5002 which is formed of a terminal authenticationmanagement table as shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagramshowing the terminal authentication management table. In this terminalauthentication management table, passwords are respectively associatedwith the terminal IDs of all the terminals 10 managed by the managementsystem 50. For example, in the terminal authentication management tableshown in FIG. 8, the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aa isassociated with the password “aaaa”.

Session Management Table

The storage unit 5000 includes a session management database (MGMT DB)5005 which is formed of a session management table as shown in FIG. 9.FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing the session management table. Inthis session management table, session IDs which identify content datasessions “sed” in which the content data are exchanged between theterminals 10 are associated with reservation IDs which identifyreservations for the communication to which the corresponding session isrelated, relay device IDs which identify the relay devices 30 used forrelaying the content data in the corresponding session, and terminal IDswhich identify the terminals 10 conducting the communication in thecorresponding session. For example, in the session management tableshown in FIG. 9, the session ID “se03” is associated with thereservation ID “rsv08” and it is shown that the relay device 30 c withthe relay device ID “111c” relays the content data between the terminals“10ae” and “10dc” in the corresponding session. When the communicationwhich is not related to the reservation is conducted, the item ofreservation ID of the session management table remains blank.

Destination List Management Table

The storage unit 5000 includes a destination list management database(MGMT DB) 5004 which is formed of a destination list management table asshown in FIG. 10. FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing thedestination list management table. In this destination list managementtable, terminal IDs (an example of request source identification data)of the terminals 10 as request source terminals are associated withterminal IDs of the destination candidate terminals with which therequest source terminals 10 can communicate, and destination name data(first destination name data) which indicate names of the destinationcandidate terminals. For example, in the destination list managementtable shown in FIG. 10, it is observed that the destination candidateterminals with which the terminal 10 aa having the terminal ID “01aa” asthe request source terminal can communicate are the terminals (10 ab, 10ba, . . . , 10 db). Further, in the destination list management table,two or more destination name data items (i.e., “Osaka YY planning team”,“Osaka BO, A Inc.”, etc.) are managed with respect to a singledestination (i.e., the destination terminal 10 ba with the destinationterminal ID “01ba”). The destination name data is registered in responseto receiving a request of registration of the destination name data inwhich a destination terminal with which the request source terminal 10can communicate is designated. Note that, in this embodiment,appropriate names that are frequently used on the request source sideare used as the first destination name data (for example, in a case ofdestination terminals in their own company, the names such as team namesare used, and in a case of destination terminals in other companies,names such as company names are used) such that the request sourceterminal can easily identify the destination terminal. The destinationlist management database 5004 in which the first destination name datais managed constitutes part of a destination name data managing unit5010 shown in FIG. 6.

Reservation Management Table

The storage unit 5000 includes a reservation management database (RSVNMGMT DB) 5009 which is formed of a reservation management table as shownin FIG. 11A and a reservation terminal management table as shown in FIG.11B. FIG. 11A is a conceptual diagram showing the reservation managementtable, and FIG. 11B is a conceptual diagram showing the reservationterminal management table. In the reservation management table, when themeeting communication between the terminals 10 is reserved, thereservation ID which identifies the reservation is associated with thestart date/time of the meeting, the end date/time of the meeting, andthe meeting name. For example, in the reservation management table shownin FIG. 11A, the reservation ID “rsv03” which identifies the reservationof a meeting is associated with the start date/time “15:00 on Nov. 10,2011”, the end date/time “17:00 on Nov. 10, 2011”, and the meeting name“security meeting”.

On the other hand, in the reservation terminal management table, theabove-described reservation ID is associated with the terminal ID of theterminal 10 which conducts the reserved meeting communication, and thedestination name data (second destination name data) which indicates thename of the destination when the terminal 10 is selected as thedestination terminal. When two or more reservations are assigned to asingle terminal 10, two or more destination name data items (i.e.,“Tokyo KK sales project team”, “Tokyo”, etc.) may be associated with thesingle terminal 10 (i.e., the terminal 10 aa with the terminal ID“01aa”). Note that, in this embodiment, an appropriate name is used asthe second destination name data so that each participant at the meetingcan easily identify other participants. The reservation terminalmanagement table of the reservation management database (DB) 5009 inwhich the second destination name data is managed constitutes part ofthe destination name data managing unit 5010 shown in FIG. 6.

An additional table record containing the reservation ID, the startdate/time, the end date/time, the meeting name, the terminal ID, and thedestination name data may be registered in the reservation managementtable and the reservation terminal management table by the store/readprocessing unit 59 of the management system 50 in response to receivinga record registration request from any one of the terminals 10.

Terminal Management Table

The storage unit 5000 includes a terminal management database (MGMT DB)5003 which is formed of a terminal management table as shown in FIG. 12.FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram showing the terminal management table.In this terminal management table, the terminal IDs of the terminals 10are associated with the operating states of the terminals 10, the IPaddresses of the terminals 10, and the destination name data items(third destination name data) which indicate the names of thedestinations when the corresponding terminal 10 is selected as thedestination. For example, in the terminal management table shown in FIG.12, the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aa is associated with theoperating state “online”, the IP address “1.2.1.3” of the terminal 10aa, and the destination name data “03-1234-OOOO” of the terminal 10 aa.

Note that, in this embodiment, a numeric value such as a telephonenumber is used as the third destination name data such that thedestination name data may be notified to all the other terminals 10 withwhich the source terminal can communicate. The terminal managementdatabase 5003 in which the third destination name data is managedconstitutes part of the destination name data managing unit 5010 shownin FIG. 6.

Functional Configuration of Management System

Next, the functional configuration of the management system 50 will bedescribed. Note that, in the following, the functions of the managementsystem 50 are explained in association with the main elements anddevices for implementing the units of the management system 50 shown inFIG. 5.

The transmitting/receiving unit 51 of the management system 50 isconfigured to transmit various data (information) to and receive suchdata from other terminals, relay devices and systems via thecommunication network 2, and such a function of thetransmitting/receiving unit 51 may be implemented by instructionsreceived from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5 and by the network IF 209shown in FIG. 5. The transmitting/receiving unit 51 is an example of adestination name data transmitting unit configured to perform a processfor transmitting destination name data which transmits destination namedata to the terminal 10.

The terminal authentication unit 52 is configured to search for theterminal authentication management table (FIG. 8) of the storage unit5000 with the terminal ID and the password contained in the loginrequest message received by the transmitting/receiving unit 51 used assearch keys, and authenticate the corresponding terminal based onwhether the terminal ID and the password contained in the login requestmessage are identical to those managed in the terminal authenticationmanagement table. The function of the terminal authentication unit 52may be implemented by instructions received from the CPU 201 shown inFIG. 5.

The state managing unit 53 is configured to manage the terminalmanagement table (FIG. 12) by associating the terminal ID, the operatingstate, and the IP address of the request source terminal which has sentthe login request, in order to manage the operating state of the requestsource terminal. The function of the state managing unit 53 may beimplemented by instructions received from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5.Further, the state managing unit 53 is configured to receive thepower-OFF state information sent from the terminal 10 when the userswitches OFF the power switch 109 of the terminal 10, and changes theoperating state of the terminal management table from the online stateto the off-line state based on the received power-OFF state information.

The terminal reading unit 54 is configured to search for the terminal IDof the destination candidate terminal 10 in the destination listmanagement table (FIG. 10) by the terminal ID of the source terminalhaving sent the login request used as search keys, and obtain theterminal ID of the destination candidate terminal 10. The function ofthe terminal reading unit 54 may be implemented by instructions receivedfrom the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5. Further, the terminal reading unit 54is an example of a destination name data reading unit configured toperform a destination name data reading process which obtains at leastone destination name data item from the plural destination name dataitems managed in the destination name data managing unit 5010 formed ofthe terminal management database 5003, the destination list managementdatabase 5004, and the reservation management database 5009.

The relay device selecting unit 56 is configured to select the relaydevice 30 used for relaying the content data between the terminals 10 inthe communication in the content data session sed. The function of therelay device selecting unit 56 may be implemented by instructions fromthe CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5.

The session managing unit 57 is configured to generate a session IDwhich identifies a content data session sed every time the content datasession sed between the terminals 10 is newly established. The functionof the session managing unit 57 may be implemented by instructionsreceived from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5. Further, the session managingunit 57 is configured to associate the session ID, the reservation ID,the terminal ID, and the relay device ID, and store and manage them inthe session management table (FIG. 9).

The store/read processing unit 59 is configured to perform a processwhich stores various data in the storage unit 5000 and reads the storeddata from the storage unit 5000. The function of the store/readprocessing unit 59 may be implemented by instructions received from theCPU 201 shown in FIG. 5 and by the HDD 205 and the clock 215 shown inFIG. 5.

The reservation reading unit 61 is configured to search for thereservation terminal management table (FIG. 11) by the reservation IDused as a search key, and obtain the corresponding terminal ID. Thefunction of the reservation reading unit 61 may be implemented byinstructions received from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5. Further, thereservation reading unit 61 is configured to search for the reservationmanagement table by the reservation ID used as a search key and obtainthe corresponding meeting name, the start date/time, and the enddate/time.

The meeting/destination information generating unit 64 is configured togenerate, with respect to each reservation ID, meeting information whichcontains the meeting name, the start date/time, and the end date/time,and destination information which contains the terminal ID, theoperating state, and the destination name data. The function of themeeting/destination information generating unit 64 may be implemented byinstructions received from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 5. Further, themeeting/destination information generating unit 64 is configured togenerate meeting detailed information which contains the reservation ID,the meeting name, the start date/time, the end date/time, the terminalID, the operating state and the destination name data.

Processes and Operation

Next, the processes carried out by the transmission system 1 accordingto the embodiment will be described. First, a process for transmittingand receiving the management data in a preparatory step before theterminal 10 aa starts communication will be described with reference toFIGS. 13 to 16. FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram for explaining apreparatory process for starting communication between terminals. FIG.14 is a flowchart for explaining a process for generating the meetinginformation and the destination information. FIG. 15A is a conceptualdiagram showing an example of the meeting information and FIG. 15B is aconceptual diagram showing an example of the destination information.FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a meeting list anda destination list. In the process of FIG. 13, various management datais transmitted and received in the management data session “sei” shownin FIG. 2.

In the process of FIG. 13, if the user of the terminal 10 aa switches ONthe power switch 109 shown in FIG. 4, the operation input receiving unit12 shown in FIG. 6 receives a power-ON signal from the power switch 109and turns ON the power supply of the terminal 10 aa (step S21). Inresponse to the power-ON signal, the login request unit 13 transmitsautomatically a login request message indicating the user's loginrequest from the transmitting/receiving unit 11 to the management system50 via the communication network 2 (step S22). This login requestmessage contains the terminal ID and the password which identify theterminal 10 aa as the request source terminal. The terminal ID and thepassword are read from the storage unit 1000 through the store/readprocessing unit 19 and sent to the transmitting/receiving unit 11. Notethat when the terminal 10 aa transmits the login request message to themanagement system 50, the management system 50 as the receiver stationmay detect the IP address of the terminal 10 aa as the transmitterstation.

Subsequently, the terminal authentication unit 52 of the managementsystem 50 searches for the terminal authentication management table(FIG. 8) of the terminal authentication management database 5002 of thestorage unit 5000 by using the terminal ID and the password contained inthe login request message received at the transmitting/receiving unit 51as search keys, and authenticates the terminal 10 aa based on whetherthe terminal ID and password contained in the login request message areidentical to those managed in the terminal authentication managementtable (step S23). The terminal ID and the password which are identicalto those contained in the login request message are managed by theterminal authentication unit 52, and when the terminal authenticationunit 52 determines that the terminal 10 from which the login requestmessage has been received has the authorized access right, the statemanaging unit 53 associates the terminal ID of the terminal 10 aa withthe operating state and the IP address of the terminal 10 aa containedin the login request message and stores the same in the terminalmanagement database (DB) 5003 (FIG. 12) (step S24). Accordingly, theterminal ID “01aa” associated with the operating state “online” and theIF address “1.2.1.3” of the terminal 10 aa are stored in the terminalmanagement table as shown in FIG. 12.

Subsequently, the transmitting/receiving unit 51 of the managementsystem 50 transmits the authentication result information, indicatingthe authentication result obtained from the terminal authentication unit52, through the communication network 2 to the terminal 10 aa from whichthe above login request message has been received (step S25). Note that,in this embodiment, the management system 50 continuously performs thefollowing process (FIG. 14) in the case where the terminalauthentication unit 52 determines that the terminal has the authorizedaccess right.

The meeting/destination information generating unit 64 of the managementsystem 50 generates meeting information that indicates a meeting whichcontains as a participant the terminal 10 aa from which the loginrequest message has been received, and destination information thatindicates a candidate for the destination of the terminal 10 aa (stepS26). This process for generating the meeting information and thedestination information will be described with reference to FIG. 14.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the process for generating themeeting information and the destination information. In the process ofFIG. 14, the reservation reading unit 61 of the management system 50first searches for the reservation terminal management table (FIG. 11B)by using the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aa from which thelogin request message has been received as a search key, and reads thecorresponding reservation IDs (“rsv01”, “rsv02”) from the reservationterminal management table (step S26-1). Hence, the reservation IDs whichidentify the reservation of the meeting in which the terminal 10 aa isscheduled to participate are read and obtained.

Further, the reservation reading unit 61 searches for the reservationmanagement table (FIG. 11A) by using the read reservation IDs (“rsv01”,“rsv02”) as search keys, and reads a start date/time, an end date/time,and a meeting name of the meeting indicated by each reservation ID fromthe reservation management table (step S26-2). The meeting/destinationinformation generating unit 64 generates the meeting information thatindicates the start date/time, the end date/time, and the meeting namefor each of the reservation IDs read by the reservation reading unit 61(step S26-3). An example of the generated meeting information is shownin FIG. 15A.

Subsequently, the terminal reading unit 54 of the management system 50searches for the destination list management table (FIG. 10) by usingthe terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aa from which the loginrequest message has been received as a search key, and reads thedestination name data that indicates the terminal ID of the destinationcandidate terminal 10 with which the terminal 10 aa can communicate, andthe destination candidate terminal name (step S26-4). For example, atthis time, a terminal ID (“01ab”, . . . ) and a destination name data(“XX sales project team”, . . . ) of the destination candidate terminal(10 ab, . . . ) corresponding to the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal10 aa may be read and obtained.

Subsequently, the terminal reading unit 54 searches for the terminalmanagement table (FIG. 12) by using the read terminal ID (“01ab”, . . .) of the destination candidate terminal 10 as a search key, and reads anoperating state (“during meeting”, . . . ) (step S26-5). Accordingly,the meeting/destination information generating unit 64 generates thedestination information that contains the terminal ID, the destinationname data, and the operating state of the destination candidate terminal10 (step S26-6). An example of the generated destination information isshown in FIG. 15B.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 13, the transmitting/receiving unit 51 ofthe management system 50 transmits the meeting information and thedestination information generated by the meeting/destination informationgenerating unit 64 to the terminal 10 aa (step S27). In the terminal 10aa, the transmitting/receiving unit 11 receives the meeting informationand the destination information, and the store/read processing unit 19stores the meeting information and the destination information in thestorage unit 1000 (step S28).

When predetermined timing is reached, the management system 50repeatedly performs the processing of the step S26, and manages updatesof the meeting information and the destination information (step S29).When one of the meeting information and the destination information isupdated, the transmitting/receiving unit 51 transmits the meetinginformation (the reservation ID, the start date/time, the end date/time,and the meeting name) and the destination information (the terminal ID,the operating state, and the destination name data) to the terminal 10aa (step S30). The store/read processing unit 19 of the terminal 10 aasequentially performs updates by storing the meeting information and thedestination information received from the management system 50 into thestorage unit 1000 (step S31).

The display control unit 16 of the terminal 10 aa displays a meetinglist and a destination list on display 120 aa based on the meetinginformation and destination information stored in the storage unit 1000(step S32). An example of the meeting list and the destination listdisplayed is shown in FIG. 16.

As shown in FIG. 16, in a meeting and destination list box 311-1, themeeting list and the destination list are displayed. The destinationlist includes a plurality of destination name data items 311-2, such as“XX sales project team”, and a plurality of icons (311-3 a, 311-3 b,311-3 c) which indicate the operating states of the destinationcandidate terminals 10 of the destination name data items. For example,the icon 311-3 a as one of the plurality of icons indicates that thisterminal 10 is one of the destination candidate terminals which is in anon-line state, ready for operation, and capable of communicating withthe terminal 10 aa. The icon 311-3 b indicates that this terminal 10 isone of the destination candidate terminals which is in an off-line stateand not capable of communicating with the terminal 10 aa. The icon 311-3c indicates that this terminal 10 is one of the destination candidateterminals which is conducting the videoconference.

Further, in the meeting and destination list box 311-1, the meeting listincludes a plurality of meeting data items 311-4, such as “2011/11/1010:00-11:30 Sales Meeting”, and a plurality of icons 311-4 a forrequesting the meeting detailed information for each meeting name. Eachof the meeting data items 311-4 includes the start date/time, the enddate/time, and the meeting name of the corresponding meeting.

Next, the process for receiving the reservation of the meetingcommunication between the terminals 10 will be described with referenceto FIGS. 17 and 18. FIG. 17 is a sequence diagram for explaining theprocess for receiving the reservation. FIG. 18 is a conceptual diagramshowing an example of a reservation acceptance screen. Note that in theprocess of FIG. 17, various management data is transmitted and receivedin the management data session “sei” shown in FIG. 2.

After the destination information from the management system 50 isreceived at the terminal 10 aa in step S27 in FIG. 13, in the process ofFIG. 17, the operation input receiving part 12 of the terminal 10 aareceives the reservation of the meeting communication between theterminals (step S41). In this case, the display control unit 16 of theterminal 10 aa displays on a display 120 aa the reservation acceptancescreen shown in FIG. 18. The operation input receiving unit 12 receivesthe meeting name, the start date/time, the end date/time, and theterminal 10 scheduled to participate in the meeting, which are inputfrom the user. In this embodiment, the terminal 10 scheduled toparticipate in the meeting may be selected from among the terminals 10identified by the terminal IDs contained in the destination informationreceived from the management system 50. The destination name data itemscontained in the destination information are initially set as the namesof the terminals 10 scheduled to participate in the meeting. Suchinitial terminal name is updated by selecting the corresponding one ofthe icons 320 present in the reservation acceptance screen and editingthe same. After these data items are received by the operation inputreceiving unit 12, the transmitting/receiving unit 11 of the terminal 10aa transmits to the management system 50 a reservation request messagewhich indicates the reservation request and contains the meeting name,the start date/time, the end date/time, the terminal ID of the terminal10 scheduled to participate in the meeting, and the updated destinationname data (step S42).

After the reservation request message is received by thetransmitting/receiving unit 51 of the management system 50, thestore/read processing unit 59 associates the reservation ID with themeeting name, the start date/time, and the end date/time contained inthe reservation request message, and stores the same in the reservationmanagement table (FIG. 11A) (step S43). Note that the above reservationID may be generated by the management system 50, or may be generated bythe terminal 10 aa if the reservation ID uniquely identifies the meetingreservation. Further, the store/read processing unit 59 associates thereservation ID with the terminal ID and the updated destination namedata and stores the same in the reservation terminal management table(FIG. 115) (step S43).

Next, the process for requesting the management system 50 to provide themeeting detailed information of the reserved meeting before the terminal10 aa starts conducting the reserved meeting will be described withreference to FIGS. 19 to 22. The meeting detailed information includesthe destination name data of the destination terminal 10 which iscapable of communicating with the terminal 10 aa. FIG. 19 is a sequencediagram for explaining the process for reading the meeting detailedinformation. FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining the process forgenerating the meeting detailed information. FIG. 21 is a conceptualdiagram showing an example of the meeting detailed information. FIG. 22is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a meeting detailed list.Note that in the process of FIG. 19, various management data istransmitted and received in the management data session “sei” shown inFIG. 2.

In the process of FIG. 19, if the user of the terminal 10 aa presses theoperation button 108 shown in FIG. 4 and selects the icon 311-4 acorresponding to the meeting from among the icons contained in themeeting list (refer to FIG. 16), the operation input receiving unit 12receives the request of the meeting detailed information (step S51). Thetransmitting/receiving unit 11 of the terminal 10 aa transmits a meetingdetailed request message which indicates the meeting detailedinformation request and contains the terminal ID of the terminal 10 aaand the reservation ID (at step S27 in FIG. 13) corresponding to theselected meeting, to the management system 50 (step S52). Thetransmitting/receiving unit 51 of the management system 50 accepts therequest of the meeting detailed information by receiving the meetingdetail request message from the terminal 10 aa.

Subsequently, the meeting/destination information generating unit 64 ofthe management system 50 generates the meeting detailed informationwhich contains the detailed information of the destination terminalscheduled to participate in the meeting and selected by the terminal 10aa (step S53). The process for generating the meeting detailedinformation will be described with reference to FIG. 20.

In the process of FIG. 20, the reservation reading unit 61 searches forthe reservation management table (FIG. 11A) by using the reservation IDcontained in the meeting detailed request message received from theterminal 10 aa as a search key, and reads the meeting name, the startdate/time, and the end date/time from the reservation management table(step S53-1). Subsequently, the reservation reading unit 61 searches forthe reservation terminal management table (FIG. 11B) by using thereservation ID contained in the meeting detail request message receivedfrom the terminal 10 aa as a search key, and reads the terminal ID fromthe reservation terminal management table (step S53-2).

The terminal reading unit 54 determines whether the destination namedata (second destination name data) associated with the terminal IDobtained at step S53-2 is managed in the reservation terminal managementtable (FIG. 11B) (step S53-3). When the destination name data isdetermined as being managed in the reservation terminal management table(YES of step S53-3), the terminal reading unit 54 reads the destinationname data (second destination name data), associated with thereservation ID received from the terminal 10 aa and the terminal IDobtained at step S53-2, from the reservation terminal management table(step S53-4).

On the other hand, when the destination name data (second destinationname data) is determined as not being managed in the reservationterminal management table (NO of step S53-3), the terminal reading unit54 determines whether the destination name data (first destination namedata) associated with both the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aaas the request source terminal and the terminal ID of the destinationterminal obtained at step S53-2 is managed in the destination listmanagement table (FIG. 10) (step S53-5).

When the destination name data is determined as being managed in thedestination list management table (YES of step S53-5), the terminalreading unit 54 reads the destination name data (first destination namedata) associated with both the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aaas the request source terminal and the terminal ID obtained at stepS53-2 from the destination list management table (step S53-6).

On the other hand, when the destination name data is determined as notbeing managed in the destination list management table (NO of stepS53-5), the terminal reading unit 54 reads the destination name data(third destination name data) associated with the terminal ID obtainedat step S53-2 from the terminal management table (FIG. 12) (step S53-7).

Subsequently, the terminal reading unit 54 searches for the terminalmanagement table (FIG. 12) by using the terminal ID obtained at stepS53-2 as a search key, and reads the operating state from the terminalmanagement table (step S53-8).

Note that, if two or more terminal IDs associated with the reservationID are read at step S53-2, the terminal reading unit 54 may read thedestination name data associated with each of such terminal IDs byrepeating the processing of the steps S53-3 to S53-8.

After the reading of the destination name data is completed, themeeting/destination information generating unit 64 generates the meetingdetailed information which contains: the reservation ID; the terminalID, the start date/time, the end date/time, the meeting name (which areobtained by the reservation reading unit 61); and the destination namedata and the operating state (which are obtained by the terminal readingunit 54) (step S53-9). An example of the generated meeting detailedinformation is shown in FIG. 21.

Subsequently, in the process of FIG. 19, the transmitting/receiving unit51 of the management system 50 transmits the meeting detailedinformation generated by the meeting/destination information generatingunit 64 to the terminal 10 aa (step S54). In the terminal 10 aa, thetransmitting/receiving unit 11 receives the meeting detailed informationfrom the management system 50. The display control unit 16 of theterminal 10 aa generates a meeting detailed list including thedestination name data based on the meeting detailed information receivedby the transmitting/receiving unit 11, and displays the meeting detailedlist on the display 120 aa (step S55). An example of the displayedmeeting detailed list is shown in FIG. 22.

As shown in FIG. 22, a meeting detailed list 311-6 including a list ofattendant terminals (the destination name data items) is displayed. Themeeting detailed list includes the start date/time, the end date/time,and the meeting name 311-7 of the corresponding meeting. The list ofattendant terminals includes a plurality of destination name data items311-2, such as “Tokyo”, and a plurality of icons (311-3 a, . . . , 311-3c) which indicate the operating states of the attendant terminals (thedestination name data items). An entry button 311-5 used for receiving areserved meeting communication start request from the user is displayedin the meeting detailed list 311-6. Accordingly, the terminal 10 aa mayreceive the reserved meeting communication start request from the userwhen viewing the screen in which the meeting detailed list is displayed.

Next, the process for starting the reserved meeting communication on theterminal 10 aa will be described with reference to FIG. 23. FIG. 23 is asequence diagram for explaining the process for starting thecommunication. In the process of FIG. 23, various management data istransmitted and received in the management data session “sei” shown inFIG. 2.

It is assumed that when the terminal 10 aa requests the start of thereserved meeting communication, the terminal 10 ba and the terminal 10db are in a state in which the reserved meeting communication is carriedout through the relay device 30 a in the content data session “sed”shown in FIG. 2.

In the process of FIG. 23, if the user of the terminal 10 aa presses theentry button 311-5 of the meeting detailed list (FIG. 22), the operationinput receiving unit 12 receives the reserved meeting communicationstart request (step S61).

Subsequently, the transmitting/receiving unit 11 of the terminal 10 aatransmits a start request message which indicates the communicationstart request and contains the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aa,and the reservation ID “rsv02” received at step S54, to the managementsystem 50 (step S62). The transmitting/receiving unit 51 of themanagement system 50 receives the communication start request from theterminal 10 aa by the received start request message, and detects the IPaddress “1.2.1.3” of the terminal 10 aa as the transmitter station. Thestate managing unit 53 of the management system 50 changes the data itemin the “operating state” field of the record of the terminal managementtable (FIG. 12) including the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aain the start request message to “during meeting” (step S63).

The session managing unit 57 of the management system 50 writes theterminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10 aa to the “terminal ID” field ofthe record of the session management table (FIG. 9) including thereservation ID “rsv02” received from the terminal 10 aa (step S64). Thesession managing unit 57 searches for the session management table byusing the reservation ID “rsv02” received from the terminal 10 aa as asearch key, and reads the corresponding session ID “se01” and thecorresponding relay device ID “111a” from the session management data(step S65). Note that the session ID “se01” is generated by the sessionmanaging unit 57 when one of the terminals (10 ba, 10 db) first startsthe reserved meeting communication, and such session ID is stored in thesession management table. Further, note that the relay device ID “111a”is selected by the relay device selecting unit 56 when one of theterminals (10 ba, 10 db) first starts the reserved meetingcommunication, and such relay device ID is stored in the sessionmanagement table by the session managing unit 57.

Subsequently, the transmitting/receiving unit 51 of the managementsystem 50 transmits the session ID “se01” obtained at step S65 and therelay device connection message used for connecting the terminal withthe relay device 30 a to the terminal 10 aa via the communicationnetwork 2 (step S66). The IP address of the relay device 30 a, thecertification information, and the port number may be included in therelay device connection message. The terminal 10 aa is connected to therelay device 30 a by using the relay device connection message, andtransmits the content data to the relay device 30 a.

Subsequently, the transmitting/receiving unit 51 of the managementsystem 50 transmits a relay start request message indicating the relaystart request to the relay device 30 a (step S67). The IP address of theterminal 10 aa which newly starts communication in the content datasession sed, and the session ID “se01” obtained at step S65 arecontained in the relay start request message. The store/read processingunit 39 of the relay device 30 a stores the IP address of the terminal10 ab which newly participates in the content data session sed indicatedby the session ID “se01” in the storage unit 3000. The relay unit 32relays the content data received from the terminal 10 aa to theterminals (10 ba, 10 db) via the transmitting/receiving unit 31 based onthe IP address stored in the storage unit 3000, and relays the contentdata received from the terminals (10 ba, 10 db) to the terminal 10 aa.Accordingly, the content data session sed is established between theterminals (10 aa, 10 ba, 10 db) for transmitting and receiving thecontent data between the terminals (10 aa, 10 ba, 10 db). The terminal10 aa starts the reserved meeting communication between the terminals(10 ba, 10 db) by the content data session.

Supplementary Information of Embodiment

According to the embodiment, the destination name data items may not belimited if the destination name data items indicate names of adestination. The destination name data items may contain informationrepresenting names relevant to the terminals 10, such as serial numbers,addresses, and phone numbers of the terminals 10, and names of regionsin which the terminals 10 are arranged, or information representingnames relevant to the users of the terminals 10, such as project names,team names, and user names of the terminal users.

Further, according to the embodiment, the management system 50 and theprogram provision system 90 may be integrated in a single computer, orvarious functions and units of the management system 50 and the programprovision system 90 may be separately arranged in two or more computers.Moreover, if the program provision system 90 is formed in a singlecomputer, programs transmitted by the program provision system 90 may begrouped into two or more modules or may not be grouped. Further, if theprogram provision system 90 is formed of two or more computers, theprograms grouped into modules may be transmitted from the separatecomputers.

Moreover, according to the embodiment, recording media storing aterminal program, a relay device program and a transmission managementsystem program, and the program provision system 90 including the HD 204storing such programs may be distributed to users domestically andabroad as a program product.

Moreover, according to the embodiment, the IP addresses of the relaydevices are managed by the relay device management table shown in FIG. 7and the IP addresses of the terminals are managed by the terminalmanagement table shown in FIG. 12. However, alternatively, respectivefully qualified domain names (FQDNs) of the relay devices 30 and theterminals 10 may be managed instead of the respective IP addresses asrelay device specifying information for specifying the relay devices 30over the communication network 2 and terminal specifying information forspecifying the terminals 10 over the communication network 2. In thiscase, a known domain name system (DNS) server may acquire the IP addresscorresponding to the FQDN. Note that the “relay device specifyinginformation for specifying the relay devices 30 over the communicationnetwork 2” may be also expressed as “relay device destinationinformation indicating destinations of the relay devices 30 over thecommunication network 2” or “relay device access point informationindicating access points of the relay devices 30 over the communicationnetwork 2”. Similarly, the “terminal specifying information forspecifying the terminals 10 over the communication network 2” may alsobe expressed as “terminal access point information indicating accesspoints of the terminals 10 over the communication network 2” or“terminal destination information indicating destinations of theterminals 10 over the communication network 2”.

In this embodiment, the term “videoconference” and the term“teleconference” may be interchangeably used.

Further, according to the above-described embodiment, thevideoconference system is described as an example of the transmissionsystem 1. However, the transmission system 1 may not be limited to thevideoconference system if the transmission system 1 is a system capableof conducting the communications with a specified destination. Thetransmission system 1 may be phone systems, such as Internet protocol(IP) phones or Internet phones, and other systems, such as facsimiledevices, social networking service (SNS) devices, online game devices ore-mail devices. Further, the transmission system 1 may be utilized foran audio-conference system or a personal computer (PC) screen sharingsystem.

The transmission system 1 may be a mobile phone communication system. Inthis case, the transmission terminal may be a mobile phone terminal.FIG. 24 shows an example of a destination list displayed on the mobilephone terminal. FIG. 24 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of adestination list displayed on the transmission terminal according toanother embodiment. Specifically, the mobile phone terminal as theterminal 310 includes a main body 310-1, a menu screen display button310-2 arranged in the main body 310-1, a display unit 310-3 arranged inthe main body 310-1, a microphone 310-4 provided in a lower part of themain body 310-1, and a speaker 310-5 provided in a surface of the mainbody 310-1. Among these, the “menu screen display button” 310-2 isutilized for displaying a menu screen on which icons of variousapplications are displayed. The display unit 310-3 is formed of a touchpanel on which the user touches with a finger or hand to select adesired destination name data item in order to communicate with a personof another mobile phone terminal of the selected destination name dataitem.

Further, according to the embodiment, the videoconference is implementedby the transmission system 1. However, the transmission system 1 may notbe limited to the videoconference system. The transmission system 1 maybe utilized for a preliminary meeting, a general conversation betweenfamily members or friends, or one-way presentation of information.

Major Effects of Embodiment

As described above, in the transmission system according to theembodiment, the destination name data managing unit 5010 is configuredto manage two or more destination name data items indicating names of adestination in the communications between the terminals 10. The terminalreading unit 54 is configured to read at least one destination name dataitem from among the destination name data items. Thetransmitting/receiving unit 51 is configured to transmit the readdestination name data item to a terminal 10 which is capable ofcommunicating with the destination. In this case, the destination namedata managing unit 5010 is able to manage the plural destination namedata items according to the communications with respect to the singledestination, and it is possible to provide an appropriate destinationname data item for the communications.

Further, according to the embodiment, the plurality of first destinationname data items are associated with the terminal IDs of the terminals 10as the request source terminals and such data items associated with theterminal IDs are managed in the destination list management table (FIG.10). The terminal reading unit 54 is configured to read from thedestination list management table a first destination name data item(e.g., “Company B, Washington D.C.”) associated with a terminal ID(e.g., “01aa”) of a request source terminal. The transmitting/receivingunit 51 is configured to transmit the first destination name data itemto the terminal 10 (e.g., the terminal 10 aa) which is the requestsource terminal. Accordingly, a plurality of easy-to-specify destinationname data items of one destination on the request source terminal may bemanaged in the destination list management table per request sourceterminal, and the management system 50 may provide one of the pluralityof easy-to-specify destination name data items for the request sourceterminal.

Moreover, according to the embodiment, the plurality of seconddestination name data items are associated with the reservation IDs andsuch data items associated with the reservation IDs are managed in thereservation terminal management table (FIG. 11B). The terminal readingunit 54 is configured to read from the reservation terminal managementtable a second destination name data item (e.g., “Tokyo”) associatedwith a reservation ID (e.g., “rsv02”). The transmitting/receiving unit51 is configured to transmit the second destination name data item tothe terminal 10 (e.g., the terminal 10 db) which starts thecommunications relevant to the reservation. Accordingly, a plurality ofeasy-to-specify destination name data items of one destination on theterminal 10 which participates in the communications relevant to thereservation may be managed in the reservation terminal management tableper reservation, and the management system 50 may provide one of theplurality of easy-to-specify destination name data items for the requestsource terminal.

Further, according to the embodiment, the terminal reading unit 54 isconfigured to read, when a second destination name data item is notmanaged in the reservation terminal management table (FIG. 11B), a firstdestination name data item from the destination list management table(FIG. 10). The transmitting/receiving unit 51 is configured to transmitthe first destination name data item to the terminal 10 which is therequest source terminal which starts the communications relevant to thereservation. Accordingly, even when the second destination name dataitem associated with the reservation ID is not managed, the managementsystem 50 may read the first destination name data item and transmit thefirst destination name data item to the terminal 10 as the requestsource terminal.

In addition, according to the embodiment, the third destination namedata items are managed in the terminal management table (FIG. 12).Accordingly, even when the destination name data item relevant to therequest source terminal or the destination name data item relevant tothe reservation is not managed, the management system 50 may read thethird destination name data item and transmit the third destination namedata item to the terminal 10 as the request source terminal.

Further, according to the embodiment, the plurality of destination namedata items may contain information representing names relevant to theterminals 10, such as serial numbers, addresses, and phone numbers ofthe terminals 10, and names of regions in which the terminals 10 arearranged, or information representing names relevant to the users of theterminals 10, such as project names, team names, and user names of theterminal users. Accordingly, the flexibility of selection of thedestination name data items when specifying the name of the destinationmay be increased.

As described above, in the transmission system according to theembodiment, the transmission management system manages a plurality ofdestination name data items which indicate a plurality of names of asingle destination in the communications between the transmissionterminals, reads at least one destination name data item from among theplurality of destination name data items, and transmits the destinationname data item to a transmission terminal capable of communicating withthe destination. In this case, the transmission management system isable to manage the plural destination name data items according to thecommunications with respect to the single destination, and it ispossible to provide an appropriate destination name data item for thecommunications.

The transmission management system according to the invention is notlimited to the above embodiments and various variations andmodifications may be made without departing from the scope of thepresent invention.

The present application is based on and claims the benefit of priorityof Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-171192, filed on Aug. 1, 2012,the entire content of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A management system comprising: a memory;and processing circuitry configured to: record name data items for usein communications between terminals using identification data items; andstore in the memory, with respect to a first identification data item, afirst name data item associated with a second identification data itemto indicate that a terminal using the first identification data item isa destination terminal for a terminal using the second identificationdata item, and a second name data item different from the first namedata item and associated with a third identification data item toindicate that a terminal using the first identification data item is adestination terminal for a terminal using the third identification dataitem.
 2. The management system according to claim 1, wherein theprocessing circuitry is further configured to: transmit, in thecommunications between the terminals, the first name data item to aterminal that uses the second identification data item; and transmit, inthe communications between the terminals, the second name data item to aterminal that uses the third identification data item.
 3. A transmissionsystem comprising: the management system according to claim 1; and theterminals using the identification data items.
 4. A transmission systemcomprising: the management system according to claim 2; and theterminals using the identification data items.
 5. A management methodfor performing a process by a management system including a memory andprocessing circuitry, the method performed by the processing circuitrycomprising: recording name data items for use in communications betweenterminals using identification data items; and storing in the memory,with respect to a first identification data item, a first name data itemassociated with a second identification data item to indicate that aterminal using the first identification data item is a destinationterminal for a terminal using the second identification data item, and asecond name data item different from the first name data item andassociated with a third identification data item to indicate that aterminal using the first identification data item is a destinationterminal for a terminal using the third identification data item.
 6. Themanagement method according to claim 5, further comprising:transmitting, in the communications between the terminals, the firstname data item to a terminal that uses the second identification dataand transmitting, in the communications between the terminals, thesecond name data item to a terminal that uses the third identificationdata item.
 7. A non-transitory computer-readable recording mediumstoring a program which, when executed by a management system includinga memory and processing circuitry, causes the processing circuitry toexecute a process comprising: recording name data items for use incommunications between terminals using identification data items; andstoring in the memory, with respect to a first identification data item,a first name data item associated with a second identification data itemto indicate that a terminal using the first identification data item isa destination terminal for a terminal using the second identificationdata item, and a second name data item different from the first namedata item and associated with a third identification data item toindicate that a terminal using the first identification data item is adestination terminal for a terminal using the third identification dataitem.
 8. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium accordingto claim 7, wherein the process further comprises: transmitting, in thecommunications between the terminals, the first name data item to aterminal that uses the second identification data and transmitting, inthe communications between the terminals, the second name data item to aterminal that uses the third identification data item.